Undergraduate course information

The Faculty's flagship course is the five-year Bachelor of Engineering, Diploma in Engineering Practice (C10061). Students graduating with this award can major in Civil, Civil and Environmental, Computer Systems, Construction, Electrical, Mechanical, Mechanical and Mechatronic, Software and Telecommunications engineering, or graduate without specifying a major. In addition, a major can be combined with a sub-major in another discipline. The Faculty also offers a four-year Bachelor of Engineering (C10067) degree course, a three-year Bachelor of Engineering Science (C10066) degree course, and a three-year Bachelor of Engineering Science in Engineering Innovation (C10077) degree course, as well as the combined awards Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, Diploma in Engineering Practice (C10062); Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Business (C10065); Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Science (C10073); Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Medical Science (C10075); Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Biotechnology (C10078); and Bachelor of Engineering Science, Bachelor of Laws (C10136).

The same educational philosophy underpins all awards. In every case, students undertake a set of core subjects, a set of field of practice subjects that defines their major and, in some cases, a set of electives. The different awards have a requirement of between zero and two internships. The advanced standing policies and assumed knowledge is the same for all courses.

The Bachelor of Engineering, Diploma in Engineering Practice is described in some detail below. Descriptions of the engineering courses in the Course Information section cover only the differences between the award and the information below. For a full understanding of all award course, students should read the following information in association with the particular award description.

Bachelor of Engineering, Diploma in Engineering Practice

The program leading to the combined award of Bachelor of Engineering, Diploma in Engineering Practice (C10061) is a comprehensive preparation for careers in the professional practice of engineering.

The Bachelor of Engineering, Diploma in Engineering Practice is a combined degree and the awards are not available separately. Both elements of the program are closely interwoven and interdependent, and prepare students for the professional engineering internship by linking theory and application. The degrees combining engineering with business, biotechnology, science and medical science may also be combined with the Diploma in Engineering Practice by undertaking further work and study.

As noted earlier, the combination of formal academic learning in the University and experiential learning in the workplace is called Cooperative Education. UTS Engineering degree courses have embodied this principle for over 30 years. The courses are highly regarded in industry, and graduates have enjoyed correspondingly high employment rates: according to many reports and surveys, the highest of any engineering degree courses in Australia. Cooperative Education is also well known and highly regarded in other countries, particularly North America.

Engineering education in many countries is undergoing revolutionary change, and the UTS program is at the forefront of much of this change.

At present, students can major in the combined award in one of nine areas. These are Civil Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Systems Engineering, Construction Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Software Engineering and Telecommunications Engineering. The choice of major can be made at entry, or postponed until the end of the first year without extending completion time (subject to availability of places and adequate performance). Further majors will be introduced in subsequent years in response to technological developments and employment demand, and provision will be made to allow students to change from existing majors. It is also possible for students to negotiate a program that focuses on an area outside the designated majors. There is considerable elective scope, which can be used either to extend engineering knowledge or to take a sub-major in a different discipline such as business or social science.

Course structure

The overall program comprises five principal components: the core program; the Engineering Practice Program; the fields of practice subjects; the electives; and the Capstone Project. The core program, the Engineering Practice Program and the Capstone Project are common to all students undertaking the BE DipEngPrac.

Core program

This component provides a framework covering knowledge, skills and attributes that are relevant to all engineers across all fields of practice. It consists of common mathematics and physics subjects, and common engineering subjects which draw on several fields of engineering practice to develop interdisciplinary knowledge and skills within the larger context of professional practice. It also develops awareness of the values debate in engineering, and promotes commitment to the principles of sustainability.

The core program is not a common first year, but runs throughout the course from admission to graduation. Students take differing combinations of subjects in their first year, and in each successive year, depending on their choice of major.

For details of core subjects, refer to STM90106, or STM90268 for students undertaking the Construction major.

Fields of practice and majors

This component relates theoretical and practical learning from core subjects to applications in specific fields of engineering internship. It develops knowledge of engineering science and technologies relevant to particular branches of engineering, and specialist technical expertise. Particular sets of subjects constitute majors in the respective fields of practice, as set out below. A major provides the essential foundations needed for practice in that field, familiarity with current practice, awareness of likely developments, and knowledge of resources available for future self-directed learning.

All majors emphasise and develop the essential engineering skills of observation and experimentation, analysis and synthesis, modelling, systems thinking, conceptual reasoning and judgment, and problem formulation and solving, using as case studies the technologies and contexts relevant to the particular field of practice. Each major involves substantial laboratory content, designed to integrate theoretical and practical understanding. All are designed to link with the core program and with engineering internship.

The totality of all fields of practice subjects across all majors provides the pool from which students wishing to graduate with a general degree may draw (subject to approval) to make up their field of practice component. Some fields of practice include subjects taught wholly or partly by other faculties.

Electives

In general, students may devote up to 30 credit points to electives (exceptions below). Electives may be taken from subjects offered by any faculty of the University, or indeed other universities. Students may elect to deepen their knowledge and skills in their own field of practice by taking additional subjects in that field, possibly at graduate level; to broaden their engineering knowledge by taking fields of practice subjects associated with another major; or to take subjects from another faculty, including part credit for a second degree. Some students may wish to explore two or more introductory engineering subjects before making their choice of major, in which case the additional subject(s) may be counted (subject to conditions) as part of the elective component. The elective component also provides a mechanism for crediting prior learning and work-based learning.

Students are not permitted to take as an elective a subject that covers substantially the same material as a required subject or a subject already undertaken. Undergraduate students may enrol in some Faculty of Engineering postgraduate subjects that have been approved for undergraduate enrolment provided they have already completed at least 120 credit points of their undergraduate degree. Undergraduate students may undertake up to four approved postgraduate subjects. A maximum of three approved postgraduate subjects recently undertaken as part of an undergraduate degree may be used to apply for exemptions from a Faculty of Engineering Master's degree provided the subjects fulfil the equivalent subject requirements.

Some courses and/or majors have an elective component of less than 30 credit points. The Civil Engineering and the Civil and Environmental Engineering majors have only 24 credit points of electives. In the case of the Civil and Environmental Engineering major, because of its dual disciplinary nature, students are strongly recommended to take as electives subjects drawn from one of the approved sequences of environmental subjects. In other instances, the elective provision is reduced in order to accommodate a second formal award. The combined degrees have no electives.

Engineering Practice Program

The Engineering Practice Program supports and assesses student learning in workplace and community environments. Its objectives are to prepare students for engineering work experience, to support them during that experience, and to assist them in maximising learning. The program also supports the integration of this experiential learning with the theoretical and practical aspects of the academic curriculum.

A fundamental objective is to develop the ability to learn actively in a wide variety of modes and contexts, and to critique and contribute to those learning environments on a lifelong basis.

The program is administered through a series of subjects offered in flexible mode. Students enrol in the program as a whole and are guided through the respective modules. Students are ultimately responsible for their progression through the program. Academic staff and workplace mentors and supervisors act as facilitators; administrative staff assist in ensuring that students' progress is recorded and validated; and Industry Partnering Unit staff assist students in securing suitable work placements and in establishing cooperative programs with industry and the community.

The minimum time in the workplace required to satisfy each engineering internship subject is 22 weeks. In total, however, 48 weeks must be gained by the required deadline to meet course requirements and to be eligible to graduate.

Internships are organised into two blocks of six months each. Students are required to undertake the relevant prerequisite subjects prior to undertaking their internships, and in the semester following an internship are required to enrol in the appropriate review subjects. Details of prerequisite subjects and subjects required to be completed after each internship are listed under STM90271.

While students are encouraged to undertake additional work experience of a high standard, they are only permitted to enrol in each of the two official internships, as listed under STM90271, once.

Industry Partnering Unit

The Industry Partnering Unit (IPU) assists students in obtaining internships. Its staff maintain contact with industry, register students' intentions of seeking work experience, advise students on the preparation of résumés and presentation at interview, keep students' résumés on file, and advise on the availability of work opportunities in Australia and overseas. Students seeking work experience must register with the IPU in the semester preceding their intended period of work.

Capstone Project

Late in the degree, each student undertakes a Capstone Project, supervised by a member of academic staff and designed to consolidate and integrate learning in all aspects of the program. Industry-linked projects, under joint supervision, are strongly encouraged.

The project topic must be approved by an academic supervisor and must be relevant to the field of practice concerned. It may be largely technical in emphasis, or it may encompass a range of technical and contextual challenges.

The Capstone Project results in a substantial report, which must be written and produced to professional engineering standards and must demonstrate the student's readiness for professional engineering practice.

Recognition of prior learning

Students with TAFE Diplomas are entitled to recognition of prior learning (RPL) in the form of subject exemptions. The level of RPL granted depends on the relevance of the TAFE area of study to the proposed major in the BE DipEngPrac. For a TAFE Diploma in the same area, students can expect to receive between 24 and 48 credit points of exemptions, depending on the grades obtained in the TAFE subjects.

Exemption from part of the Engineering Practice Program is granted only on the basis of actual work experience that can be shown to meet the required standards. The maximum exemption would be one work-experience semester. Under no circumstances is exemption granted from the whole of the engineering internship requirement.

The Faculty reserves the right to advise any student who is admitted with RPL, and who is not succeeding in the program, to undertake some or all of the subjects from which exemption had been granted.